Penang Deputy CM II defends statement and will provide proof

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II, Prof Dr P. Ramasamy Thursday (20 Nov) defended his remarks that some application forms submitted by non-Malays to join the public service were being torn up.

He said the remarks were made based on facts unearthed during his research at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), six years ago.

“I do have proof but will not expose them as they are confidential. It is my responsibility to protect my source and not disclose the identity.”

He said this while winding up the Supply Bill 2009 in the State Legislative Assembly.

Prior to this, Ramasamy (DAP-Prai) was reported to have said that he is willing to provide the proof to the state assembly.

Blaming Umno for trying to sensationalise the issue, Ramasamy said: “I’m not making blind accusations but it was indeed a fact unearthed from my research in UKM.”

“Umno is trying to make a big fuss on the issue but I will defend my case. I’m the one who brought it up and I am prepared to face the consequences,” he said.

The issue of Malay domination in the public sector became the focus of heated arguments from the first day of the sitting last week when the state government accused that it was caused by Umno-controlled government policy.

Meanwhile, Ramasamy also asked the Opposition to back the state government’s efforts to convince the Federal Government to allocate RM500 million for the Penang Industrial Training Development Fund.

“The fund will be used to re-train retrenched workers so that they can find other jobs,” he said, adding that the state government was prepared to conduct smaller-scale training programmes for the workers with the cooperation of related institutions if the application failed.